Stock Futures Mixed Ahead of Hearing on Bailout

NEW YORK – Wall Street headed for a mixed open Tuesday as the nation's top economic officials prepared to update Congress and investors about efforts to hammer out a $700 billion financial rescue plan. Gold prices, which shot higher Monday as investors went in search of safe assets, retreated.

After days of intense gyrations in financial markets, investors are anxious over whether the plan to absorb billions of dollars in banks' bad mortgages and other risky assets will help steer the sputtering economy back onto sound footing or if it will lead to more turmoil by dramatically ramping up inflation.

Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke and Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Christopher Cox are scheduled to testify before lawmakers, who are working with the Bush administration to iron out the details of the bailout.

James Lockhart, director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency — the regulator of mortgage finance giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac — is also expected to attend. The hearing is due to start at 9:30 EDT.

The rescue plan is the latest in a string of extraordinary steps to prop up the U.S. economic system. Late Sunday, the Fed agreed to allow Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley to change their status to bank holding companies. The move, which dramatically reshapes the landscape of Wall Street, allows the companies to set up commercial banks and take deposits, boosting their reserves.

The Dow Jones industrial average futures fell 21, or 0.18 percent, to 11,042. On Monday, the Dow fell more than 370 points as unease over the government rescue plan sent investors for the safety of hard assets like oil and gold.

Investors will also be closely watch oil prices after anxiety over the government bailout and a short-covering rally pushed crude to the biggest one-day gain ever on Monday.

Light, sweet crude for November delivery fell $1.97 to $107.40 in premarket electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The October contract, which expired Monday, surged as much as $25.45 to $130 before falling back to settle at $120.92, up $16.37.

Bonds rose. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note, which trades opposite its price, fell to 3.78 from 3.85 on Monday. The dollar was mixed against other major currencies, while gold prices fell.

Overseas, Britain's FTSE 100 was down 2.22 percent, Germany's DAX index was down 0.86 percent, and France's CAC-40 was down 1.71 percent. Japanese financial markets were closed Tuesday for Autumnal Equinox Day, a national holiday.